Apparatus for generating acetylene gas



(No Model.)

A-. A.- STROM.

APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AGETYLENE GAS.

Patented Sept. 28, H897.

" '7 QZTeZJQ 62 mm 9 fizz 22 flaw UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

AXEL A. STROM, OF AUSTIN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE \VALMSLEY &

COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ACETYLENE GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 590,674, dated September 28, 1897.

Application filed June 14, 1897. Serial No. 640,735. (No model.)

To all whom it Tnmy cancer/t.-

Be it known that I, AXEL A. STROM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Austin, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Generating Acetylene Gas, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a novel and effective construction of float-valve device, for use in the gas-holder of apparatus for generating acetylene gas, to control, automatically, the supply from the gas-holder to the generator of water for attacking the calcium carbid in the generator.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view, diagrammatic in its nature, of a gas-holder provided with my improvement,the section being taken at the line 1 on Fig. 2 and viewed in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 2, a section taken at the line 2 on Fig. 1 and viewed in the-direction of the arrow, and Fig. 3 a plan view of the float-valve device.

A is a generator, which, though it may involve any suitable construction, is preferably that set forth in my application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 640,734, filed concurrently herewith on the 14th day of June, 1807.

B is a gas-holder composed of the outer fixed section B, containing a bodyof water, and the inner inverted movable section B which may carry a weight w on its top. On

one side of the section Bthere is shown to be provided a condensing-chamber 0, having an outlet-pipe 1' leading from near its upper end, and a pipe q leads from the lower portion of the chamber 0 upward through the gas-holder beyond the water-line 00 therein. A tube 19 is shown depending from the center of the top of the section B and as telescoping with a tube 1) or rod rising from the base of the section 13 to guide the inverted section in its movements. ThegeneratOrAcommnnicates, through its cover, with the condenser O and the interior of the gas-holder respectively through gas and water pipe connections having flexibly-jointed sections near the generator, as described in my aforesaid application, and containing shut-off Valves 0 and 0 on a stem 0 operated by a handle 0 D is my improved float-valve device. It comprises the two box-shaped or hollow annular bodies a and n, hinged together at one side to open and close like a pair of jaws. A tube on extends entirely through the body 12 and coincides at'its upper end with a cap m on the under side of the body it, both bodies encircling the guide-tubep, about which there is also supported on a collar Z a weight Z of greater diameter than that of the opening through the body at and of less diameter than that through the body 1t. To limit the upward play of the section 1%, a yoke extends about it from the section n. The tube m is connected at its lower end by a flexible tube t' with'the water-pipe h, which leads from the interior of the gas-holder to the generator A.

The purpose of myimproved float-valve device is to admit water through the tubes m and i and pipe it into the generator A, for attacking the calcium carbid therein, whenever the supply of gas in the holder B becomesinsufficient and causes the holder-section B to fall to the position shown by the full-linerepresentation in Fig. 1, and to shut off the supply of water to the generator when the supply of gas in the holder raises the movable section thereof, as to the position indicated by the dotted representation. When the holder-section B is down, the weight 1 bears against the body 71 of the float device and depresses it, while the buoyancy of the body of water in the holder raises the body 01. to lift the cap m from and thereby uncover the inlet end of the tube m, through which, then, and the tube 2' and pipe h water from the gas-holder enters the generator to evolve from the calcium carbid therein gas, which enters through the pipe g the condenser O, and the holder B through the pipe q, raising the holder-section B While the holder is filling with gas the rise of its movable section carries the weight Zu'pward through the opening in the body a of the float-valve device, thereby permitting the body 02 to rise by flotation until the inlet end of the tube m encounters and is closed by the cap m to shut off the supply of water to the generator until pletion of its gas-contents, when the automatic water-supplying operation to the generator is repeated.

It is within my invention to employ as the float-valve merely the body a, which will shut off the water-supply by flotation when the upper end of the tube on is above the waterlevcl in the gas-holder. The primary object of the body '22. is to close the tube m to prevent, then, the escape therefrom of water contained in it. Nor need the body it or the body a necessarily be hollow.

IVhat I clainras new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a gas-generating apparatus, the combination with a gas-holder and a generator intercoinmunicating through a water-pipe connection, of a float-valve device in said holder having a body provided with a tubular passage coupled to said water-pipe connection, substantially as described.

2. In a gas-generating apparatus, the combination with a gas-holder and a generator intercommunicating through a Water-pipe connection, and a telescoping guide in said holder extending between its fixed and movable sections, of a float-valve device on said guide having a body provided with a tubular passage coupled to said water-pipe connection, substantially as described.

3. In a gasgenerating apparatus, the combination with a gas-holder and a generator intercommunicating through a water-pipe connection, of a float-valve device in said holder having a body provided with a tubular passage connected by a flexible tu be in said waterpipe connection, substantially as described.

i. In a gas-generating apparatus, the combination with a gas-holder and a generator intercominunicating through a water -pipe connection, and a telescoping guide in said holder extending between its fixed and movable sections, of a float-valve device on said guide having body provided with a tubular passage connected by a flexible tube in said water-pipe connection, and a weight carried by said guide above said body, substantially as described.

5. In a gas-generating apparatus, the combination with a gas-holder and a generator intercommunicating through a waterpipe connection, of a float-valve device, in said holder comprising two bodies hinged together, one having a tubular passage coupled to said water-pipe connection and the other carrying a cover for the open end of said passage, and means for separating said bodies by the fall of the movable section of said gas-holder, sub stantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a gas-gen crating apparatus, the combination with a gas-holder and a generator intercommunicating through a water-pipe connection, and a telescoping guide in said holder extending between its fixed and movable sections, of a float-valve device comprising two bodies hinged together and surrounding said guide, one of said bodies having a tubular passage coupled with said water-pipe connection and the other carrying a cover for the open end of said passage, and means for separating said bodies by the fall of the movable section of said gas-holder, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

7. In a gas-generating apparatus, the combination with a gas-holder and a generator intercommunicating through a waterpipe connection, of a float-valve device in said holder comprising two bodies hinged together, one having a tubular passage and the other carrying a cover for the open end of said passage, a flexible tube connecting the tubular passage in said water-pipe connect-ion, and means for separating said bodies by the fall of the movable section of said gas-holder, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

8. In a gas-generating apparatus, the combination with a gas-holder and a generator intercoinmunicating through a water-pipe connection, and a telescoping guide in said holder extending between its fixed and movable sections, of a float-valve device comprising two annular bodies hinged together and surrounding said guide, one of said bodies having a tubular passage and the other carrying a cover for the open end of said passage, a flexible tube connecting the tubular passagein said water-pipe connection, and means for separating said bodies by the fall of the movable section of said gas-holder, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

9. In a gas-generating apparatus, the combination with a gas-holder and a generator intercommunicating through a water-pipe connection, of a telescoping guide in said holder extending between its fixed and n1ovable sections, aweightl carried by said guide, and a float-valve device D comprising the annular bodies n and n hinged together and surrounding said guide, the body 71. having a tube m extending through it and connected by a flexible tube t in said water-pipe connection and the body n carrying a cap on, and a stop 7c for the body a, the whole being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

AXEL A. STROM.

In presence of- M. J. FROST, R. T. SPENCER.

IIC 

